MJF Images Fine Art landscape, nature and travel images from the American West and around the world.

Archive for the ‘city’ Tag

This Sunday I’ll give a nod to my city, which is a nice one. Most pictures of Portland that you see will have been taken from the east bank of the Willamette River. This is a more unusual take, from the north on the upper deck of the Fremont Bridge. I stopped very briefly on the left shoulder. Luckily the light was beautiful and the traffic was light (it was late afternoon on Sunday). The green field you see in the foreground was recently created from ugly industrial land. I could have brightened the shadows a bit; the contrast is pretty high in this scene. But I think I like it with the shadows and contrast, to further separate the buildings, which look fairly crowded from this perspective.

This view of the north side of Portland’s skyline is not one you see often.

Hope your weekend is going well. If you happen to have an interest in this image (which is copyrighted and not available for download without my permission), just click on it. Then click “Purchase Options” to go to pricing options on the high-res. version. It won’t be added to your cart until you choose one of the options. If you want it framed, or have any other special request, please contact me. Thanks for looking.

The Willamette River flows through Portland, Oregon, as viewed from atop the Broadway Bridge.

Regular readers of this blog might wonder why on earth I would be hanging around so close to home for this long. After all, most of the posts on this blog have been made from the road, either around the American West or in some of the world’s other beautiful places. I am currently recovering from broken ribs. I was thrown from a horse, and when I landed there wasn’t much doubt; the cracking sound was quite obvious! So I’m trying to avoid cabin fever and getting out to shoot (in a mellow way) when the pain isn’t too bad.

Portland’s downtown area nestles in behind the trees and grass of Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

This post will continue the occasional series on Stumptown’s highlights (it’s a cute nickname, don’t you think?). I recently posted on some of our parks, and also on using urban photography as a way to shake things up . In this post, I want to make a simple recommendation for any visit to P-town: simply go down to the east bank of the Willamette River, just across from downtown. Park somewhere close to that river, and then take a walk for views of the city.

A spiral bike ramp allows bicyclists traveling on the Eastbank Esplanade in Portland, Oregon to access one of the many bridges over the Willamette River.

You can park near or even at OMSI, the science museum on SE Water Ave. not far from the Hawthorne Bridge. If you park at the museum, technically you should visit or else you could be towed. Leaving time for a visit to OMSI is a great idea (I recommend the submarine), but if you don’t have enough time, just park near the museum to the north. Then walk towards the river until you run into a pathway called the Eastbank Esplanade. You can stroll north along this pathway and cross over to Tom McCall Waterfront Park (and downtown proper) on one of the several bridges along the way.

The setting sun in Portland, Oregon creates interesting interplay of shadow and light.

If you’re after photographs, shooting over to the city from the Esplanade is ever popular. But getting up on one of the bridges will give you a multitude of other viewpoints. My two favorite photos in this post, the Convention Center (below) and the picture immediately above, were both taken from atop bridges. There are plenty of options, so just explore. Using Waterfront Park on the west side, it is easy to do loops of varying lengths. Just cross a bridge on the way to shorten the loop, or walk all the way down to the Steele Bridge to cross.

Don’t expect foodcarts or other such options along the way, that is unless there is a festival of some kind going on in Waterfront Park. This is a bicycling/walking/running path and is kept deliberately uncluttered so as to allow folks to stroll and enjoy the views of the city. If you get thirsty or hungry, just strike “inland” away from the river and in a few blocks you should find something.

The Convention Center towers are in the background as I focus on the cherry blossoms on the cusp of nightfall.

I hope you enjoy the pictures, and that you’ll get a chance to visit Portland soon to see for yourself. And if you’ve already been, come back soon! It really is a nice city, very walkable and in the right light quite pretty with its bridges and riverfront. If you’re interested in purchasing prints or high-res. downloads of any of the images, simply click on them. When you get to an image you need to click “add image to cart”, then you’ll have a tabbed list of prices. The images are copyrighted, and so aren’t available for free download, sorry. Thanks for your interest, and thanks for reading! Stay tuned for a more nature-oriented post next time.

Portland, Oregon is a town of bridges, like the Steele Bridge here spanning the Willamette River at dusk.

Sunset is a peaceful time to boat on the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon.

This Friday it’s all about cross-training. No, not that kind. We’re not going to bust out the sneakers and lift weights, run, swim and bike all before breakfast! I’m applying this concept to photography. The point I’m making here is this: whatever types of subject you are primarily interested in, there is much to be gained from going into a different environment to capture images from time to time. Here I will use the example of landscape/nature vs. urban/street photography.

A view from the red Broadway Bridge in Portland, Oregon. This required some real creative positioning to get the composition just right.

Since I am primarily a landscape/nature photographer, it is a stretch for me to go into the city with my camera. But as with many things, once I am there I lose myself in the moment. For me, one of the bigger challenges in the urban environment is finding compositions without too much clutter. I often need longer focal lengths on cityscapes than in landscapes for precisely this reason.

For example, there always seems to be annoying wires to deal with. I’ve never found a picture in which wires add anything. They only take away. I wish that when Edison lighted New York City after inventing the light bulb, he would have pushed for burying utilities. If they would have done that early on, it would have been much cheaper. Now, with all the development, it’s nearly impossible to do so at a reasonable cost.

The cherry blossoms along Portland, Oregon’s waterfront are a nice place for a stroll on an evening in springtime.

Reducing the number of elements in your compositions is one of the many things the two kinds of photography have in common. And moving into the environment with which you are less comfortable will force you to become better in this regard. Finding more ways to simplify your compositions is but one example of how this kind of cross-training can benefit your photography. I really feel that landscapes and cityscapes share much in common. But at the same time they are dissimilar enough so as to make crossing over a useful yet fairly painless exercise.

A large warehouse, now in disuse, shows off its huge textured wall at Portland, Oregon’s old rail station.

In both types of photography, you will be getting a variety of shots, from wide overviews to the smallest details. And yet it will be a challenge to find leading lines, strong subjects, and dramatic backgrounds in the environment you are least familiar with. A bonus for me is that living things are much easier to find in the city than in nature. The kind of diversity you find among living things in cities is different than in nature. And the approach you use to put the creatures at ease is quite different as well. Animals are easier in some ways, in that they never ever ask for money and are never unhappy with their looks. But in both cases, with people or with animals, once you have earned their trust, you’re in!

The Willamette River flows past Portland’s waterfront with Mount Hood standing in the background.

Once the sun has set and you enter the realm of night photography, the city offers some unique challenges, not the least of which is the mixed lighting present. But at blue hour, when the sky attains that deep purplish-blue color, and the lights have come on, cityscapes can truly be magical. In the natural world, you are hard-pressed to include much of the foreground during blue hour, unless you have recognizable silhouettes or are next to water. In the city, you can include as much foreground as you want since it is almost always well lighted. Once the sky goes black, you need to minimize the sky in the city. In nature, this is the time to go for the stars!

Deep shadows during the pretty but dimmer light of dusk present a challenge for urban photography.

This is just one example of photographic cross-training. You can probably think of others. Go ahead and include them in your comments below. It is a great way to avoid the dreaded photography rut, of course; that’s the obvious benefit. But it will also allow you to overcome challenges in a manner different from what you are used to. Thus it will give you more tools to work with, both in and out of your favorite photographic environment. I really think cross-training can greatly benefit the images you capture of your favorite subjects. And as a bonus it will help to diversify your portfolio.

Downtown Portland, as viewed from the Fremont Bridge. Not many drivers risk a stop here, so you can be sure this viewpoint is not over-photographed.

Remember to click on any images you’re interested in to go to a larger version. Then click “add to cart” to see price options. It won’t be added to your cart with this first click; you need to confirm after seeing the prices. Thanks for not downloading these too-small versions. They are copyrighted and require my permission to use. Please contact me if you have any questions or special requests, for instance if you wish to inquire about framed and signed pieces.

The skyscraper in Portland informally dubbed “Big Pink” reflects a technicolor sunset. Reflective buildings often take the place of water in landscape photography.

I feel after being here a week (my second visit) that I can safely recommend some things for anyone planning a short visit to Ensenada, which is on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico a couple hour’s drive south of San Diego. For someone planning to come for longer than a few days, perhaps I would need to stay longer, maybe a month. That’s the way it works, at least for me. I need to be in a place for awhile in order to speak intelligently about it, and then my thoughts are only good for a shorter visit than I had. It’s something I recently discovered about travel. Note that I don’t cover many of the standard attractions; do a quick internet search (e.g. Trip Adviser) for the standard sort of advice.

Everyone needs a hat: Ensenada, Mexico.

I’m finally posting some people pictures, though my last post actually talked about the people more. Sort of a mismatch I realize, but it probably only bothers me, and not all that much at that.

A pretty girl on the streets of Ensenada, Mexico. Note the pay phone, a disappearing sight.

Ensenada, like so many places, grows on you. Many people from San Diego or elsewhere in SoCal maintain a house down here. And many of those end up retiring down here. So it is slowly becoming more popular. Sure, Loreto to the south on the Peninsula, along with other places in Mexico, are more popular retirement destinations. Ensenada, after all, has a seedy side. And there are not really any good beaches nearby. But it is a superb place to have a boat, and the fishing is excellent. It is also a very safe place to be in Mexico, which is pretty important these days. And for an American, being so close to U.S. soil is downright convenient.

A man selling honey on the streets of Ensenada, Mexico laughs at a friend ribbing him.

There is one little piece of Ensenada that I was missing, that is until I found one last night; that is, a brewpub. On a recent walk near sunset (my favorite time to take a walk), I ran into a great microcerveceria, or microbrewery. It’s called the Old Mission. I was skeptical about the quality of their brew, but they proved me dead wrong on that score. It is the first in Ensenada. La Paz, Tijuana, Mexicali, they all have several brewpubs.

A plain wall and window are given a bit of color in Ensenada, Mexico.

A good brewpub is something we take for granted now in the Pacific Northwest. But in Mexico you cannot buy microbrews in the stores. Tecate is like Budweiser, and that company even manages to keep out competitors like Pacifico (which is my favorite mass-produced beer in Mexico). You can find Pacifico in cans, but the best kind, that is, in thick-glass returnable bottles, is rare indeed.

A glass lamp and the setting sun combine to make a miniature lighthouse in Ensenada, Mexico’s fishing harbor.

The microcerveceria, which has only been open about a year, is a very well built place, with soaring ceilings made of good ol’ Oregon Doug fir beams. It cost the owners a bundle to import them. They serve good pizza, and a variety of very good Mexican dishes and pasta. They serve a couple great IPAs, plus a few ales, including a brown and a red. And unlike in the U.S. (at least the ones I’ve been to) this brewpub sells mixed drinks. Prices are quite reasonable, what with the good exchange rate between American dollars and pesos. A margarita goes for about $2.50, while pints are in the $3.00+ neighborhood. Sadly, $1 beers are pretty much gone in most of Mexico.

Men selling honey (miel) in Ensenada, Mexico pass the time in a card game.

This post has two parts. Tune into the second of these tomorrow!

A walk up a desert wash on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula reveals some nice surprises, including palm trees.

A photo & travel blog with a difference: Instead of strict focus on photo how-to, gear and the like, I'll pass on knowledge about the places and cultures photographed. I believe the more deeply you come to know a place, the better your pictures will be.

My past careers as science teacher and geologist mean that I can't help but teach about the natural history of photogenic places around the world. But photography is not forgotten. You'll also see practical tips about where and how to photograph the destinations. And once a week, Friday Foto Talk gives photography tips and how-to on a selected topic, for novices on up to expert.

What you won't find here is endless discussion about me braving dangerous weather, terrain or wild animals to get the shot. Nor will there be cheerleading gear talk or marketing pitches. I promise to leave that to other blogs, of which there are many.

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